Half The Sky To Carry Olympic Torch

To all of our dear, dear friends of Half the Sky - YOU made it happen!

This week in Beijing we got some wonderful news. Thanks to the concerted efforts of our most extraordinary HTS family, I am going to carry the Olympic Torch in Beijing!!

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2007-11/02/content_6224493.htm
http://pub1.chinadaily.com.cn/cdpdf/olym/
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/torch_page.html

I do not yet know if I will be permitted to run with the children. That will be up to the Olympic Committee. But you can be sure of one thing:

Whether or not I am allowed to run WITH the children, the world will know that I am running FOR them.

Thank you, everyone, for helping to share the Olympic spirit with China’s orphans. I know that those children who are old enough to understand will be so proud that they have a place in China’s grand celebration.

With love and thanks beyond measure,

Jenny

Jenny Bowen
Executive Director
Half the Sky Foundation
www.halfthesky.org

Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future.

CCAA Posts "Priority rules in the review of inter-country adoption application dossiers by CCAA"

Date of Post:October 31, 2007 Source:CCAA

At present, the number of adoption application documents that the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (hereafter referred to as CCAA) receives is increasing very fast. However, the limited number of Chinese children available for inter-country adoption is far from being able to meet the demand of families from overseas. The CCAA maintains, in accordance with the principle of protecting the best interests of children in the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (hereafter referred to as Hague Adoption Convention), that adopters in the following conditions answer better to the spirit of Hague Adoption Convention and the provisions of adoption law in both adopting and sending countries, and are able to offer the Chinese children adopted the best possible environment to grow in. It is our hope that adoption agencies responsible for submitting adoption dossiers read this letter attentively, screen the families and give priority to those in the following conditions, and submit the adoption application documents for them:

The CCAA first accepts and reviews adoption applications of foreign adopters who are qualified with the following conditions from the day of 1st May 2007, and then makes placement of adoptees with them. Adoption applications of the other adopters who are not qualified will be put into consideration after all the cases of the qualified have already been dealt with.

Ⅰ. The adopters are a couple of one male and one female with a stable marital relationship. In case that both the husband and wife do not have any ex-marriage, the length of marriage has to reach two years. In case that either the husband or wife has ex-marriages (not more than 2), the length of the current marriage has to reach 5 years.

Ⅱ. Both the husband and wife have reached the age of 30 years and are under 50.
For adoption of special needs child, both of them should have reached the age of 30 and are under 55.

Ⅲ. Both the husband and wife are fully healthy physically and mentally, and do not have the following conditions:

AIDS;
mental handicap;
infectious disease within infective stage;
binocular blind or binocular parallax or monocular blind and with no ocular prosthesis;
binaural hearing loss or language function loss; adoption of special needs children who have identical conditions will be exempt from this limitation;
afunction or dysfunction of limbs or trunk caused by impairment, incompleteness, numbness or deformation; severe facial deformation;
severe diseases which requires long term treatment and which affect life expectancy, like malignant tumor, lupus erythematosus, nephrosis, epilepsy, and etc.;
post-surgery of major organs transplantation, not yet 10 years;
schizophrenia;
medication for severe mental disorders, like depression, mania, or anxiety neurosis, and etc, stopped not more than 2 years;
BMI (BMI=weight (kg)/ height2 (m2) )≥ 40.
Ⅳ. Either the husband or wife holds a stable occupation. The family annual income reaches $10,000 for each family member, including the prospective adoptee and the family net assets value should reach $80,000.
The family annual income does not include welfare income, like relief fund, pension, unemployment insurance, or government subsidy, and etc.

Ⅴ. Both the husband and wife have received education of or above the level of senior high school, or vocational skills training of the same level.

Ⅵ. The number of children in family under the age of 18 years does not reach 5, and the youngest one should have reached the age of 1 year.
Adoption of special needs children will be exempt from the limitation of “the number of children in family under the age of 18 years does not reach 5”.

Ⅶ. Both the husband and wife have never come under any criminal sanction. And they behave honourably with good moral characters, and abide by regulations and laws. Both of them do not accord with the following situations:

have a history of domestic violence, sex abuse, abandonment or abuse of children (even if they are not consequently arrested or criminated);
have a history of taking narcotics like opium, morphine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and etc, and medication for mental diseases, which are able to arouse addiction among human beings;
have a history of alcohol abuse and have given up drinking not more than 10 years ago.
Adoption application will be given consideration on a case by case basis when either the husband or the wife has less than 3 criminal records of slight severity with no severe outcomes, and the time for correction of wrong has reached 10 years, or has less than 5 records of traffic law violation with no severe outcomes.

Ⅷ. The adopters are able to have a correct cognition of adoption, and expect to provide a warm family for the orphaned children (or children with handicap and disability) via adoption and to meet the needs of the children adopted for the sake of a good development of them. They have a correct cognition of inter-country adoption as well, and are fully mentally-prepared for the potential risks within inter-country adoption and for the situations of children adopted as potential diseases, developmental delay, post-placement maladjustment, and etc.

Ⅸ. The adopters make in the adoption application letter clear promises of being able to accept post-placement follow-ups and offer post-placement reports as required.

Ⅹ. The fixed number of year or age that appears in this letter shall be dated from the day when the adoption application documents are logged in at the CCAA.

The CCAA expects sincerely to cooperate with you and to provide better services for the adopters and children adopted and to help the Chinese children adopted develop in a family full of happiness, love and understanding. Thank you very much for your understanding and assistance.

The CCAA is responsible for the interpretation of this letter. If you have any specific questions, please contact the Adopter’s Eligibility Review Department.

CCAA

Adoptive Parent Pet Peeves

Posted by Steve and Jen

Luckily for us we haven't received any negative comments about our adoption. People, for the most part, have been positive and supportive through this process. Sometimes though people do say things to us that, although are well meaning, are not considered positive adoption language. Sometimes it is because of a generational difference or unfamiliarity with current terminology. Some may consider us too sensitive about these things but it is really not about us. It is about the little girl who we will soon be adopting. Just wanted to talk about some of the things that are frowned upon in the (Chinese) adoption community.

Lucky Child
Not to toot our own horn but Jen and I think we will make pretty good parents so any kid would be lucky to have us as parents. Sometimes though there is the perception that by adopting from China we are saving a child. We will be taking Grace out of an orphanage or foster care and we do think that we will be giving her many opportunities that she would not have in China. But she will also be losing a lot by leaving China. We will be taking her away from her country and culture and bringing her to a place were most of the population will not look like her. Sometime in her life she will feel racism and discrimination and at that point I am sure she will not feel lucky. We are the lucky ones that China is allowing us to adopt one of her daughters and for that we will be eternally grateful.

Oriental
I think this is a generational thing as in the past it was acceptable to refer to people of Asian descent as Oriental. This term is no longer acceptable just as it is no longer acceptable to refer to African-Americans as colored. Grace will be Asian-American of Chinese descent. People are Asian, rugs and furniture are oriental.

China Doll
When people refer to Grace as our China doll we know it is meant with the best intentions, that she will be a beautiful child. What people don't realize is that there are sexual overtones in the term. The term is used in countless movies in referring to sexualized Asian women kept hidden away for some westerner's pleasure. Most Asians abhor the term as well as it objectifies them. So it is not really a term we want used in reference to our daughter since she will be our daughter and not a "doll" we went to China to purchase.


Model Minority
Sometimes Asians are referred to as the model minority. The stereotype is that Asians are intelligent, hardworking and successful. A few people have bought into this stereotype and commented that "she will be smart" or "good at math". As a teacher, Jen has seen all ability levels in all races of her students, so we don't expect Grace to naturally excel in any one area just because of her race. We hope Grace is smart but what if she struggles in school? We would hate for her teachers to expect her to be smart or not give her the support she needs just because she is Chinese and is supposed to be good in certain subjects.


Positive Adoption Language
Using positive adoption language supports adoption as just another way to build a family. Adoption is not better or worse than having a child through birth, it is just a different path that we chose to build our family. We will not use the term "real parents" when referring to her "biological parents". It is also not acceptable to call a biological child a real son or daughter when comparing them to adopted children. We will be Grace's parents, and we assure you we are real. Grace will have a biological mother and father in China, she will know and hopefully be proud of this from an early age. But we will never refer to Grace as our adopted daughter, she will just be our daughter Grace. We see no need to make the distinction. One comment we have heard in the past is that we will love her just as "our own". Well of course we will, she will be our own child. The preferred term for "own child" is "birth child" and I think that is what is meant when people use the term. It may seem to some that using proper terminology is trivial but positive adoption language is really about the child seeing their adoption in a positive light and not as something to be embarrassed about or as second best to having biological children.


Baby Grace King Blog